Renting to a room to a friend who takes things for granted.

[Lemontang]

Hi guys,

 

Bit of an odd one here so figured I'd fill you in with a brief history.

 

Friend of mine came back from a long trip and needed a place to stay till he was on his feet again. So in short he's been staying at my place rent free for 3 months, but going halves in all of the utilities (which I'll add I've had to chase off him each time). I advised him some time ago that once he's back up on his feet I'll be charging rent, especially as I'm in the midst of getting another house mate to move in who will be paying rent (I have a fairly large house with half of it being unused).

 

Now he's back on his feet working full time I've let him know I'm going to charge rent shortly.

 

So hence the dilemma.

 

I gave him some papers to look over and sign and to talk to me if he felt anything was unfair. Well he's since been super elusive and I had to confront him about the documents and what he thought. He thinks the rent I'm charging is too high ($100AUD a week). Now the rental market where I live is super tight and the average room rentals are about $150 which people are willing to pay for a room a week. He believes he can get a house that will charge $100 a week, maybe 5 years ago he could but the average house rentals now is $220 a week. Personally he's on a sweet deal as he's got his own guest house (separate to the house) and has access to everything, wifi, own private courtyard etc... so yeah I do feel he's now taking things for granted.

 

I will add he's moving out in a another 3 months anyway for another job that's a fair distance away. But at the very least if someones paying rent the other shouldn't be given special treatment if they are more than capable of paying their own way.

 

Thoughts?